


that may be all i need

by aetherae



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Community: 31_days, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4871776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherae/pseuds/aetherae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Group traveling is absolutely exhausting. No wonder no one ever goes outside the barrier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	that may be all i need

**Author's Note:**

> x-posted from tumblr, A LOT OF GRAMMATICAL EDITS. don't stay up till 9am writing then posting without proofreading at all, you'll find so many embarrassing basic mistakes that make you want to crawl into a hole and die.

> **12\. I would take all of you anywhere with me**

Mornings always start out like this: Karol screaming because of a bug on his face.

Yuri’s just glad it’s never a monster bug, but that’s what having a guard shift is for in the first place. No, it’s just a roach or centipede or spider, and sure _maybe_ it might’ve been poisonous, _maybe_ Karol was only a mere sting or two away from death. It still didn’t matter because with all the fuss he kicked up, the bug was sure to go sailing through the air no matter what. Repede, living what must’ve been the most oddly relaxed life in the world for a dog, always ignored it completely. Raven, having far too much fun picking on Karol even if he couldn’t really blame him, always swore up and down that the bug was still on Karol’s face, right on his nose or stuck in his hair, something. Karol, the poor kid, believed it every time, running out of their tent in his pajamas in a fit.

The first time it happened, Estelle practically leapt into their tent to defend Karol. Nowadays, she gives one quick but concerned glance before trying to calm him down so he can brush his teeth now that he’s already outside. Rita just sighs and shakes her head when sees him, too busy shaking herself out of the usual morning sleepiness to be irritated. Judith, always the last one on guard duty, doesn’t even bat an eye as he runs by her. “I think it’s rather cute,” she told Karol one day with a serene smile, and while he stopped dead in his tracks, he could guess that the kid's heart was still pounding for another reason. Judy always had a way with that.

Breakfast is mostly uneventful, probably because everyone’s too hungry to cause any fuss, but it’s always lunch where things get hectic. When they had to cook lunch themselves, it was natural that things would be difficult. Who was cooking, what they wanted to cook versus what the others wanted to eat, not to mention getting everyone to agree on something to eat. No, it was a pain even when they were in _town_ to eat.

Rita nearly missed eating half the time from being too engrossed in her research while Estelle insisted that they all eat together every time. He sees her dragging the mage to the dinner table more often than not, Rita’s nose still buried in her book even when they _do_ reach it. Estelle’s reasoning is always sentimental, but then Judy’d have to chime in saying it was the sensible thing too; sharing the budget all together meant that going off on your own made things all the harder. (Which was pretty rich, coming from her.)

The old man often whined about how eating out at the inn’s dining room or a local street vendor was _so_ not the way to woo the ladies, but Yuri didn’t think it mattered much anymore when the only people he was cooking for these days were a regular bunch of hooligans. Karol was probably the only one of them to ever order something simply, always knowing exactly what he wanted to order no matter where they were. He always says it’s because a guild leader has to be decisive; Yuri thinks it’s because a lot of these places comes with extensive, but admittedly neat, toys for kids.

Repede, thankfully, is always happy with dog food. The perks of being a dog, he guesses.

Night, for the most part, is only tiring because of actual, normal things. They set up tents, start a fire, cook dinner, figure out the shifts for who’ll be on guard for the night and what time. Things anyone would do. It’s almost a little boring.

 _Almost_ , though. Just when he thinks he has time to just sit and rest, someone or other’s always dragging him into something else.

Sometimes he’ll sit with Karol and Judith, making plans for the guild and the future it—they—will have. A guild headquarters, people lining up to join, having their name spread across every continent and then some. They’re big dreams, especially considering they’re still on their very first job, but it never sounds bad. It sounds exciting, really. A lot of work, too, but where’s the fun if there isn’t at least a little trouble? If even Judy’s smiling wider at the sound of it all, then it has to be fun.

Other times, he has to settle a squabble between Rita and Raven. Well, “squabble” might be a bit too much when it’s always the same thing. Raven teasing too much, _especially_ with who he’s talking to, and Rita over-reacting too harshly, especially with who she’s talking to. Yuri’s lost count of the number of times he stopped an annoyance-induced fireball from turning the old man into a crisp. It’s one thing if Raven gets singed, but their tents? He always wonders if one day they’ll learn. Probably not. Surprisingly, that sits perfectly fine with him.

But every now and then, it’s Estelle who’ll take his hand and drag him away from the fire. Better for seeing the stars, she tells him, as she’ll name and trace the constellations up in the sky, how they’re differently positioned from one continent compared to another. There’s always a story behind every star, too, and it still surprises him how she’s come to learn so much just from reading books. He’s never cared for them himself, but he imagines it’s better when Estelle tells the stories regardless. It’s a lot more interesting, hearing these tales of epic love and fated tragedy when he can see her practically acting out the stories as she tells them, her expression always matching the mood of the scene.

By the time he actually gets to bed, he’s always exhausted, Repede completely tuckered out too. Never mind fighting monsters, chasing thieves, running from knights. It’s the day-to-day stuff like this that tires him.

And he’s never felt more at home because of it.


End file.
